Freed by love
by santanabvb
Summary: Juliet Capulet the unknown Goman goddess of oppression refuses to love, but can Romeo Montague celtic god of love change her mind with the help of his sister Rosaline, his brother Mercutio, Tybalt and the unknown Goman goddess of memory?


Chapter one

Splash! The brunette beauty hit the crystal clear river in a flawless dive. As she broke the surface of the water, her hair, short though it was, partially blinded her. Her joy echoed from nature's surrounding green columns, as she awkwardly brushed her long chocolate fringe aside with darkly olive hands.

For once the woman's emerald eyes were free of the oppressing weight of her old-fashioned glasses. Ordinarily it was a challenge for her to even see without them. Yet she didn't have the need for them here in the water; more specifically these Edinburgh rivers.

Before her the river stretched, translucent, tranquil, freeing when her own life was quite the opposite. This woman desired those properties more than any other ever could. And although it was as deep as it was wide she found no fear of it in her soul. It was almost as though the river was the other half of her soul.

As she elegantly ducked beneath the surface once more she found a freeing happiness, wholeness about it that her life outside the river could never give her. Holding her breath she watched tiny tadpoles swimming around beneath the lily pads where their protective parents sat watching over their many brood.

Like her mother and father had before...she shook her head aggressively, attempting to forcefully remove the forbidden thought. It was a thought that had safely been caged within her subconscious like the concealed items inside the cages on her bracelet.

In total there were ten charms, yet only four were caged. It was an absurd notion, anyone would agree, but she truly believed that they symbolised something that she had oppressed in life. And she could not shake the feeling that some of those should not be suppressed.

One of the cages contained a heart, a blood red, miniature hear, that in colour resembled her lips. This heart was unscathed, unlike; she felt, the one in her own chest. Many years ago she had decided that the whole heart, enslaved in the cage, resembled the notion of love that she had to keep oppressed. She felt that to love again would kill her.

The mountain symbolised the suppression of her ambitious nature. From a young age she'd longed to be a doctor and heal the sick, but a tragedy that had occurred almost a decade ago prevented her from reaching that most coveted dream. Furthermore she crushed her soul's greatest desire by remaining at home and working the few jobs she could.

As for the coliseum, Rome's most beautiful stadium, the 27 year old supposed that she oppressed the will, the need to fight against the hardships of life, both public and private.

'Excuse me!' A male voice entered her ears and butterflies were given life inside her stomach. 'But what are you doing here?' He asked in confusion.

She didn't reply, couldn't. She'd not been looking where she was going and had bumped into this complete stranger; this completely male stranger. She should have apologised but she couldn't make the words form upon her tongue.

'Are you alright?' The stranger asked and she nodded silently, before raising her gaze from his perfectly pale torso and immediately regretting the action. His face!

A face the Greeks would kill to possess for it was so utterly enchanting. His complexion was far whiter than their alabaster pallor. His face, like his torso, carved from the Greek's columns. A crop of midnight black hair lay atop his head, contradicting the snow cloud landscape of his body.

Or so she thought until her emerald eyes met his and realised that they were the same colour as hers. Any darker and they would have been a light brown. She could just bet they were brown when darkened with arousal.

'Miss?' At the uncommon use of formality, and that fact that he'd automatically assumed her unmarried, stung. Her lips made themselves into a frown as she lowered her eyes to his lips. Lips of blood red that were almost as full as her own but much darker adorned his lower face.

'I'm fine,' she replied, and almost as quickly as a snap of her fingers her butterflies, racing heart and sweaty palms were repressed. So easily, so effortlessly, so right.

'That's a bonnie bracelet you got there, but why is the fourth cage empty?' The Irish man asked the question that not even she had the answer to.

'I don't know, now please could you excuse me?' She asked and he swam aside.

'Goodbye,' the man told her and she swam on, trying not to examine anything too closely, especially the absurd sense of freedom she'd felt looking into his eyes. Or the fact that his breath smelled like delicious pineapples. A treat she couldn't afford. At least not the quality of fruit he'd eaten.

Romeo Montague had been contemplating the beauty of summer as he'd taken his usual morning swim in the glorious river. It might not have been The Boyne, home, but it was still a river, and rivers equalled freedom. He'd been pondering summer and his sister's handiwork when someone had bumped into him from behind.

First he'd been confused and weary, having never known any other person swim in the river. And then he'd turned. He'd especially never known a woman swim in, not only this river but any. And he'd swim in many.

But he'd never seen any woman as beautiful; at least other than Rhiannon (but of course she'd be perfect).

'Excuse me...I, what are you doing?' The voice, his voice, had been cold and almost filled with hatred. Yet what could anyone else suspect? Should he have apologised for being here, in his river?

She hadn't apologised, had just stood there, her beautiful cherry red lips open in shock. That he was there? Well everyone knew he came here, swam in rivers all over Scotland when he could. Or perhaps shock because she'd bumped into him? Well she should have been watching where she was going!

Then, as if she hadn't been rude enough already, she'd begun openly perusing his body. His frown had deepened at that. He hated his body.

'Are you alright?' He'd forced himself to keep his tone polite when all he wanted to do was drag her beneath the water and drown her.

What was he thinking thoughts like that for? He was a saviour not a killer. And besides this was a river, not a man made pool; his mother would heavily disapprove, perhaps even ground him. Though everyone knew he belonged in the rivers.

As she perused his body and face he returned the 'compliment'. Her hair was the colour of melted chocolate and, he frowned, shortly cropped to her neck. As an old-fashioned man he'd thought that all girls, women, should have long hair. Did she not want an appearance that said: I am a woman? How would he know? Perhaps she was one of those feminists who craved independence.

What he did like however, was that the shortness made her neck appear longer and much more slender.

She was so darkly olive that Romeo knew she had to be from Spain or Rome. After all she was as dark as a Roman goddess and twice as beautiful.

Her emerald eyes were absolutely striking! Though the longer he gazed into them he found he wanted to let himself drop to the bottom of the river like a stone and die. But he couldn't.

Her cherry red lips were out of place in the Roman goddess appearance, but not on her face. Many portraits of the king of the Greeks had depicted him as having those very same lips, if not as full.

'Miss...?' he asked and silently cursed himself for using such a polite tone of voice.

With his words her eyes dropped to his lips and he felt that there was a need in her to kiss him, but she had reluctance. Not that he would blame her, he was a complete stranger; if only by name.

'I'm fine,' the senorita replied in a harsh tone and her eyes flicked back to his. Just like that it seemed her slight attraction to him had been switched off. Like a light: click!

When he spotted the charm bracelet on her wrist he was curious and so asked her about it.

'That's a bonnie bracelet you have there, but why is the fourth cage empty?' All the rest contained curious items but there was one completely bare.

'I don't know, now please could you excuse me?' She asked and he quickly swam aside. He wanted nothing more than to be rid of her.

'Goodbye,' Romeo told her cheerfully and watched her swim away, gleeful.

He continued his swim but could not shake the oppressive feeling that stuck to his soul like oil to seal pups.

'I need to get some peace,' he told himself, still shocked that the river had oppressed him. With that said the river fell away and the walls of his underwater palace in Boyne suddenly surrounded him instead.


End file.
